PORTLAND, Ore. Despite a warning from the Food and Drug Administration, blood sugar and cholesterol monitoring of patients using newer antipsychotic medications remains low, a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found.

With funding from Pfizer, researchers in Oregon State University, Emory University and other research institutions in Colorado and Missouri analyzed data from 109,000 Medicaid patients. They found that doctors had largely ignored the FDA warning, released in 2003, to screen patients using the “second generation” antipsychotic medications, which includes a broad range of drugs such as Pfizer’s Geodon (ziprasidone) and AstraZeneca’s Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate), for high blood sugar and cholesterol, which the drugs are known to increase, along with weight gain and the risk of diabetes.

“The existing baseline screening and ongoing monitoring of glucose and lipid levels in these patients was already pretty low, and the FDA warning really had no impact in changing that,” Oregon State University College of Pharmacy professor Daniel Hartung said in a statement. “The side effects that can be caused by these new types of antipsychotic medications, some of which were first approved in the 1990s, are not trivial. Increases in blood sugar, cholesterol and body weight can lead to diabetes in some cases, and this patient group already has a problem with diabetes that’s almost twice that of the general population.”

Poll

Poll

SPECIAL REPORTS

Are we in the midst of a beauty revolution? Perhaps. It is no secret that the ever-changing beauty category is all about trends, but one could argue that we are embarking on an especially interesting time in beauty as technology is changing the way consumers shop and new innovations strive to break through the noise.

In this beauty report, Drug Store News takes a deeper dive into some of the leading trends that are reshaping beauty.more ...

IN THIS ISSUE

In this issue, DSN examines PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Top Health Industry Issues for 2015;" takes you on a tour of Murad, shares beauty trends and insights and delves into location-based technology and how it is revolutionizing health, retail.Click here to view the issue.